Framingham Traffic Commission Approves New Guidelines for Handicap Parking Spots; Grants Spot For Pine Street

By Ashlyn Kelly

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FRAMINGHAM – The Framingham Traffic Commission voted unanimously to approve new guidelines for granting on-street handicap parking spots during its meeting on February 22.

Also at that meeting, The Commission approved a handicap parking spot on Pine Street, but that still need City Council approval.

At its January 25 meeting, the Commission had requested its regulations subcommittee create handicap parking guidelines for the Commission.

Adam Kiel, Senior Traffic and Transportation Engineer with the City of Framingham, said the City of Boston’s guidelines were used and adapted to fit the City of Framingham’s needs. 

Brindsley Fuller, chair of the regulation subcommittee said, “We thought that it would be prudent for us to have a set of criteria and regulations.” 

The guidelines were approved 7-0-0. 

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According to the guidelines, “the City of Framingham will entertain requests for a designated parking space in front on, or in close proximity to, said requester’s property on a case by case basis.”

The criteria for requesting a spot is as follows:

You may be eligible for an accessible parking spot if:

• you are a full-time, year-round resident of Framingham (you can apply whether you rent or own your home)
• you have a disability that will last at least one year and severely limits your ability to walk
• you have a valid Disabled License Plate, Disabled Veteran Plate, or a Disabled Parking Placard from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and
• you have a car registered at your Framingham address that you use regularly for personal transportation.

You CANNOT get a parking spot if:

• you have a short-term disability that will last less than a year (you aren’t eligible if your disability doesn’t severely limit your ability to walk)
• you don’t have a car registered at your Framingham address (you can’t get a space for “Pick-up and Drop-off” purposes)
• you already have a driveway, garage, or other off-street parking that is accessible and you can use.

Also at the February 22 meeting, the Commission considered the creation of an on-street handicap parking spot between 38-40 Pine Street requested by Pine Street resident Stacy Velasquez. Pine Street is located in District 8.

Commission and District 8 resident Steven P. Croci asked if Velasquez would now need to follow the application process because the guidelines were approved. 

“If we go to approve, I’d like to see a note made for the record that we are waiving bullet point number three under the section ‘Cannot get a parking spot if.’ … So if that bullet is followed, she doesn’t qualify so I’m saying we need to waive that.,” said Commissioner Croci.

William Sedewitz, chair of the Framingham Traffic Commission, said his recommendation would be to approve the request and then also send it back to the subcommittee “to take one more look at it – the application and the criteria.”

Croci motioned to approve Velasquez’s request and “refer this back to the subcommittee for review of the bullet point” “you already have a driveway, garage, or other off-street parking that is accessible and you can use” under the guidelines for denying a request. 

The motion was approved 7-0-0.

Sedewitz thanked Velasquez for bringing the request forward and said, “Hopefully we have sort of a model now to move forward for similar requests.”

According to the guidelines, “the City of Framingham will entertain requests for a designated parking space in front on, or in close proximity to, said requester’s property on a case by case basis.”

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Ashlyn Kelly is a Spring 2022 SOURCE intern. She is a is a senior communication arts major with minors in political science and journalism at Framingham State University. When she is not writing an article, you can usually find her in a theatre.